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Practice Lesson Reflection

Julianna Mendez
Dominican University of California
Dr. Margaret Golden
November 14, 2016

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Planning and teaching this lesson was a great experience. It taught me the importance of
planning, but also realizing that I may not be able to get through everything I planned for that
day. I learned that it is important to read the students and know when they have been sitting for
too long, especially first graders.
Planning and Teaching Developmentally Appropriate Subject-Specific
Instruction
While I was planning the lesson I originally thought I had planned to little and that the
book I had chosen for the students was a great book to teach character development. I knew the
book was long, but didnt realize how long it really was especially for a first grade class. It
helped that I read part of the book the day prior because the second day it wasnt so long.
Although, I did see the students start to get squirmy towards the end of the book and I found
myself trying to read the story quickly. I learned that the next time I should pick a shorter book
and do a mini lesson instead of trying to do so much in one sitting. The students were sitting for
too long on the carpet because the length of the story, and the practice of writing a sentence
together before they went off to write in their journals.
The purpose for brainstorming and writing a sentence together was so that they knew the
kind of sentence I wanted them to write in their journals. However, after I was done teaching the
lesson I realized that they had been sitting for too long and therefore, were starting to zone out.
The graphic organizer that we did together did help them while they were writing in their
journals and it was neat to see them walking up to the organizer to use a word that we had
brainstormed to describe the character for their sentence.

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Differentiating Instruction for English Learners and Students With Special

Needs
As far as differentiating instruction goes, I didnt have to differentiate for my English
language learners because the lesson was taught in Spanish. However, I did have to differentiate
for my EO students and my lower level students. My directing teacher suggested that I take the
three low students who had been gone for part of the lesson for reading intervention and work
with them at a table. I caught them up on the rest of the story by going through the pages,
explaining what happened, and then had them write about their favorite part of the story. While
working with them in the small group I tried to ask them questions about the character, but as I
heard their responses I became aware that they needed to have have been there for the entire
lesson and they needed a more scaffolding. I wanted them to at least work on their writing and
because I knew describing the character was going to be challenging for them being they were
not there for the entire story, and the character development graphic organizer, I had them write
about their favorite part of the story. The lowest student was still having a hard time with that. In
the end, I learned that these students needed more scaffolding and more time.
How to Monitor Student Understanding Throughout the Lesson
Throughout the lesson I was able to monitor students understanding because I was asking
questions during the read aloud and while we did the brainstorm of character traits of the main
character in the story. When I asked them comprehension questions about the book, I could tell
that the students understood what was happening in the story. I also noticed the students were
able to tell me why the character was feeling the way he was. The second day, when I read the

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second part of the story I noted that they were able to describe the main character in the story as
friendly and a hard worker.
While we were brainstorming the different words we could use to describe the main
character, I could see that the character traits werent obvious and therefore, it was somewhat
difficult for them to brainstorm more words that described him. However, one student made the
greatest connection of all while I was reading the story. My supervisor, my directing teacher and
I were so stunned and amazed by the connection. One reason being that this student normally
thinks out loud and interrupts a lot. This time I found it rare because he wasnt interrupting at all.
Instead, he was sitting quietly listening to the story. I paused and asked what did Otis do to help
the calf get out of the pond that she was stuck in? He gave me this blank stare as if he had no
idea what I was talking about and as I called on students who were trying to answer the question,
he continued to stare. Finally, he raises his hand and says he started playing the game that he and
the calf used to play before. This was amazing to see because, he was able to go back to what we
had previously read and connect it to what was happening in the story at that moment. That was
the wow moment that made me realize why I want to be a teacher.
How to Assess Student Learning
This practice lesson taught me that assessing students learning happens during
instruction, during the activity, and the finished product of their independent work. When the
students went out to recess I looked at their journal writing to assess their sentence about the
character from the story. I learned that its important to look at not only their writing, but also
the way they participated during instruction. By looking at the students journal I was able to
assess their writing, and their use of the descriptive word. Some were able to explain what made
the character a certain way. For example, some said, Otis is nice because he played with the calf.

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As I read other student's work I noticed that they didnt really understand how to use the
character trait in their sentence.
Yourself as a Teacher
As a teacher, I thought I could have explained and connected the character to the students
more. I felt that a large part of their misunderstanding was that my explanations werent clear
enough. I talked to my directing teacher afterwards and she reassured me that with practice using
Spanish academic language will be more fluid. Overall, my observer and my directing teacher
said it went well. The students were well behaved, they were engaged while I was reading the
story, and wrote in their journals just like I had asked them to. I needed to use more positive
reinforcement and affirmations to keep the students motivated. I noticed towards the end I started
losing a couple. It felt like I was driving a car for the first time. That feeling when its your first
time on the freeway and you are trying to manage keeping your eyes ahead of you, putting your
turn signal on, checking the side mirror, speeding up, and checking your shoulder. My focus was
on teaching the lesson, and found it hard to also concentrate on positive reinforcement, however
I know that with practice I will be more comfortable with managing and teaching.